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First portrait session ever
Camera: K7 
Posted By: emilf, 02-22-2010, 07:06 PM

I'm really not much of a people photographer... It's probably because I hate having my own picture taken and kind of expect other people to feel the same.

I was recently asked by one of the road racing guys I know to take some portrait type shots of him and his bike, and figured that might be a good transition - combining something new with something I know

Anyway, here are a couple of the shots. I did a little tweaking in Lightroom but nothing else.

Let me know what you think. I can use all the constructive criticism I can get - I have another session with someone else next weekend.

I know the Sigma 10-20mm is not exactly a standard portrait lens , but it seemed like the way to go to get both rider and bike in the frame as much as possible. I guess in some way these are more product shots than portraits.



PENTAX K-7, Sigma 10-20mm @ 14mm, 1/180, f/11



PENTAX K-7, Sigma 10-20mm @ 20mm, 1/180, f/6.3



PENTAX K-7, Sigma 10-20mm @ 14mm, 1/180, f/11



PENTAX K-7, Sigma 10-20mm @ 10mm, 1/180, f/11
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02-22-2010, 10:27 PM   #2
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Nice pics! I'll offer only a couple of points of constructive criticism, since you asked for it. These are the kinds of things I notice about my pictures ... after the fact.

I like the first two pictures. There's enough face in there, but some of the bike, as well. The only thing is that the shadows on the face from the nearly overhead sun are distracting. Maybe a little fill-in flash?

The beautiful blue sky makes a great background and the contrast with the bike, gear, etc., is great. However, the contrails in the sky on the last picture are distracting, especially since, at first glance, they look like they're some kind of rooster-tail being cast off from the bike.

So, that's my two cents' worth. But, they're great pictures, overall.
02-22-2010, 10:56 PM   #3
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Nice pics you have there! Especially #3 and #4!
02-23-2010, 01:29 AM   #4
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Awesome awesome portrait series, really love the use of a wide-angle lens for portraiture. 3rd is my favorite, the whole body poses with the helmet in a biking suit. Really like it. Also did you use fill flash at all? Looks really good.

02-23-2010, 04:54 PM   #5
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Original Poster
QuoteOriginally posted by NewportPreacher Quote
Nice pics! I'll offer only a couple of points of constructive criticism, since you asked for it. These are the kinds of things I notice about my pictures ... after the fact.

I like the first two pictures. There's enough face in there, but some of the bike, as well. The only thing is that the shadows on the face from the nearly overhead sun are distracting. Maybe a little fill-in flash?

The beautiful blue sky makes a great background and the contrast with the bike, gear, etc., is great. However, the contrails in the sky on the last picture are distracting, especially since, at first glance, they look like they're some kind of rooster-tail being cast off from the bike.

So, that's my two cents' worth. But, they're great pictures, overall.
Thanks. I did use some fill flash, but it was only the built-in. The sun was really strong and you should see the ones where I didn't use any at all... I did bring a wireless flash, but I have never really used it before, and was having problems getting the camera to fire (I guess I should have checked the manual before I left ). But I agree - more fill flash was needed. I'll have to see if I can lighten that up a little in post.

I was trying to use the contrails as part of the image, but I can see that especially in the last photo the top one is pretty distracting since it lines up perfectly with the bike.

QuoteOriginally posted by aaronius Quote
Nice pics you have there! Especially #3 and #4!
Thanks.

QuoteOriginally posted by LeDave Quote
Awesome awesome portrait series, really love the use of a wide-angle lens for portraiture. 3rd is my favorite, the whole body poses with the helmet in a biking suit. Really like it. Also did you use fill flash at all? Looks really good.
Thanks - as mentioned I used some fill-flash, but probably not enough. It was kind of tricky trying to balance the different parts of the image. All the white was getting blown out pretty quick, so I had to reduce the on-board flash about 1 - 1.5 EVs. I think if I had gotten the wireless flash working I could have focused that on the face and gotten a better result.

I'd say that overall I'm happy with my first set of portraits but I sure have a lot to learn. Now I just have to pick it up before Sunday when I'm doing another session
02-24-2010, 04:21 AM   #6
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Nice job Emil! Good balance between rider and bike and creative angles!

Mike
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